Our Town

«When Swiss Roots, an organization that offers Americans a chance to trace their Swiss history, approached me with the idea of going to New Bern, I first said no. New Bern, where Pepsi Cola was born, is a small town in North Carolina. It was founded by a family ancestor, Christoph von Graffenried, who had sailed for America in 1710, and I felt I’d worked enough on Switzerland for the time being. But on second thoughts, I decided I could use this family tie to open up the doors of this uneventful town. I went there several times over the year 2006. I wanted to hand America a looking-glass. A first selection of 33 panoramic pictures was shown in New Bern under the name “Our Town – an inside look at the United States today ». New Bern’s inhabitants did not like my version of their American life. Over the course of two months, local newspaper The Sun published eight articles without once publishing a picture, be it to announce the exhibition or to illustrate the debate over the project. I wonder if the freedom of the press in America is so obvious after all.»